Local News Station, Wink News, Visits With The Stingrays Very Early at The Field

I received a call from Jay on Monday that Wink News, who is one of our local news stations, contacted him to see if the team would meet one of their reporters and crew at the football field at 5 am today.  At first I thought Jay meant 5 pm, but I was wrong.  He said they would showcase the team during their early morning show.  After speaking with Jay, I called Daniel and told him we had to make sure we were there.  I didn't have to say much because we knew this was a great opportunity to film the event and add to our work in progress.  Daniel agreed and we discussed everything that we needed take and be ready.

After last minute preparations last night,  I set out to go to sleep early to be well rested for what I knew was going to be a very long day.  I just didn't anticipate that the excitement would take over my mind and I wouldn't be able to sleep much.  You see ever since Daniel welcomed me on this journey, I have visioned what it will all be when we are finished and each day we grow closer to that.  So much has happened and it gets exciting each day that we are working on this great project.  We have received nothing but excitement from everyone that we have shared this with including the Stingrays.  From the coaches to the players everyone has welcomed this idea and they are excited for what is to come.

Even going back to our photo shoot for the poster.  Daniel and I talked about the vision we had for the poster, but I really didn't know if what we shared would actually become a reality.  To see the finished product brings goosebumps to my arms. Doug Heslep who was the photographer that brought our idea to life, just truly did magic with our poster. The results are just what we thought it could be. Also,  the stand-ins for the poster and also the Stingrays QB (Lonnie Young) were just so gracious and understanding with Daniel and Doug as they both did what was needed to frame the shot.

Now getting back to this morning, well I arrived at the field at 4:40 am to be greeted by Stingrays Head Coach Chris Morant.  My job today was to get photos of the behind the scenes, behind the scenes shots, in other words, take a picture of Daniel filming the news reporter and cameraman filing the team. I was able to capture the moment not only with my Nikon D3000, but also with my Samsung Galaxy S3 which I believe takes the best shots of the two.

The news crew arrived around 5:15 am and were greeted by the anxiously awaiting players.  But the news lady,  Vanessa Ruffes,  showed up with more enthusiasm than most of us had that early in the morning and just jelled so well with the players.  She participated in some drills, interviewed Jay, the coaches and some players and just had a great time with everyone.  She mentioned about our film numerous times which was a great plug for us and even got Daniel on camera a few times. I eventually had to leave but I got home with enough time to watch their final segment interviewing Coach Morant and once again plugging the film.

So all in all not only was it a great day for the Stingrays but it was a great day for Journeymen the Film.  We received the attention that we needed and now we turn our focus on continuing to share about our film and share the journey that so many of us are traveling on now.

Introduction

I wanted to start our first post with a little introduction.  My name is David Conde and I am the writer and one of the producers of the film, "Journeymen".  In this blog I will mention other key people on our project like Director Daniel Herrera who also produced "Immokalee, USA", which has won documentary awards and is still showing on the Documentary Channel.  Jay Lawrence is our Executive Producer as well as the owner of the Florida Stingrays Semi-Pro Football team, which is the subject of our first film.  There will be more people on the project as we go along and I will introduce them at that point.

I chose to create this blog to share the journey that our crew will experience while we are filming and documenting the story of these players lives.  

The idea behind the Journeymen Film is to bring to life the story of players having choices in their lives to either follow their dreams of one day playing college or professional football or choosing their reality which could be a number a things from taking care of their family, working, raising their children or just realizing that the football field may not be their journey any longer.

As we document the lives of the players through interviews and video, we will compile all footage to share a story that so many other semi-pro football athletes can attest to. In the end we all will realize that we have been on a journey to follow our dreams which will bring us to our reality.

Our Website: http://www.thejourneymenfilm.com/

Twitter - @Journeymenfilm

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JOURNEYMENFILM?ref=hl 

Thank you for joining us on this Journey.